Link-button



(No Model.)

T. W. IKHSMITTEN;

LINK BUTTON.

No. 300,910. PatentedJune 24, 1884.

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UNITED ,STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' THOMAS W. F. SMITTEN OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

LlNK- BUTTON.

SPECIFICATION forming pfitiif Letters Patent No. 300,910, dated June 24-, 1884.

Applica on filed April 17, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS W. F. SMITTEN, of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new 5 and useful Improvement in Link-Buttons, of

which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

WVhen what are known as link-buttons or sleeve-links are made with button-h eads of large size permanently attached to their connecting-link or coupling, it is found always difficult, and sometimes impossible, to pass the buttons through the button-holes in the cuff or sleeve. To obviate this inconvenience the link or coupling has been made detachable from one or both button-heads; but it has heretofore been difficult to obtain a coupling or link which affords both a desirable facility for inserting the buttons in the cuffs or sleeves and perfect security against the loss of the buttons when in wear.

The object of this invention is to afford both such facility of insertion and security against loss; and to these ends my invention consists in the combination, with one of the buttonheads of a link-button, of an eye or loop on the back of said head and a hooked link having a swelled or enlarged portion or projection .at or near the extremity of its hook, whereby, while it is capable of insertion in the said eye or loop when the button is brought into a proper position, yet it cannot pass out of the said eye while the button is in wear.

The invention also consists in a novel construction of the said swelled or enlarged portion or projection of the hooked link and of the eye on the back of the button, whereby greater security against loss of the button when 40 in wear is provided for.

Figures 1 and 2 in the drawings are side views, at right angles to each other, of a linkbutton, illustrating what I consider the best form of my invention. Fig. 3 is an edge View of a cuff and corresponding view of my linkbutton, illustrating the method of inserting the latter into the former. Fig. 4. is a back or internal view of the meeting marginal portions of the cuff, showing the position assumed by the parts of the link-button when in wear.

Fig. 5 exhibits a sectional view. corresponding with Fig. 4, taken right through the button-holesflengthwise thereof. Figs. 6, 7, and 8 represent modifications of the hooked link.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

A and B are the button-heads, and O is the hooked link. The head A is shown as having the link 0 permanently attached to it by an eye, 0, at one end of the link, and a loop, a, on the said head. The other end of the link is made with a hook, e. The detachable button-head B is made with a loop or eye, b,for the reception of the said hook, and the said hook has a laterally swelled or broadened extremity, e, or, in other words, is made with an outward lateral projection, e, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 4. The loop or eye b is repre-' sented in Figs. 2 and 5 as having an elongated opening-that is to say, its length measured from the back of the button-head B is greater than its width in a transverse direction. The hook e of the link is represented in Figs. 2 and 5 as being of uniform thickness all the way to the point, such thickness being less than the width of the loop or eye I), and the hook is otherwise so made that when its bow is engaged with the said loop or eye, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 5, it will permit the buttonhead B to turn freely upon it; but the width of the laterally swelled or broadened extremity 'e is so much greater than that of the eye I) that although it will just pass freely through the elongated loop or eye b when placed parallel therewith, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, it will not pass through the said loop or eye when the latter isplaced transversely to it in the relative position which the parts assume when the button is in wear.

To insert the button into the end D, the head B is first removed from the link. The ends or side edges of the cuff are then brought together parallel and back to back, as shown in Fig. 3, and the link 0 is inserted through both button-holes d d, as shown in Fig. '3, and while the cuff is held in this position the button head B, having the greater length of its loop or eye 1) parallel with the broadening or enlargement c of the extremity of the hook, is

applied to the hook and the loop slipped over 100,

the latter. On edges of the cuff being released, the elasticity of the cuff brings them to the positions shown in Figs. 4 and 5, which they occupy when the cufi" is in wear, the eyes or loops of the button-heads being within the button-holes, the sides of the link being parallel, or nearly so, with the backs of the button-heads, and the broad enlargement c of the extremity of the link being transverse to the narrow direction of the loop. or eye I), so that the head B cannot possibly come off while the cufl is left free in wear.

To remove the button from the cuff, the edges of the cuff are again brought back to back, as shownin Fig. 3, and the link is pushed through far enough to permit the button-head B to have its eye or loop I) placed parallel with the link,when it can he slipped over the enlargement c and removed, leaving the link free to be drawn back through the cuff.

Fig. 6 shows a hooked link,O, made of wire, having its hooked extremity e broadened by forming a loop in a direction transverse to the sides of the loop, and turning the said loop outward. Fig. 7 shows a hooked link made of wire, with its extremity e broadened by forming a loop in a direction transverse to the sides of the loop and turning the said loop inward and backward within the loop. Both of these forms of hook are to be used like that first described, with an elongated loop, like 0, on one of the button-heads.

Fig. 8 shows a link enlarged near its extremity e in the form of a lump or knob. This link will be used with a removable buttonhead having a round eye, which is only just large enough for the knob or lump to pass through it when properly presented, but would prevent the loop or eye from slipping off while the parts were in the position which they assume in wear.

If desired, both ends of the link may be made with similar hooks to provide for either or both button-heads being detached.

I do not confine myself to any particular form of the enlargement or projection on the link at or near its extremity, by which it is prevented from accidental withdrawal from the loop or eye of the detachable button.

WVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with one of the heads of a link-button, of a loop or eye on the back of the said head, and a hooked link having a swelled or enlarged portion at or near the extremity of its hook, whereby it cannot be .dis- 7 connected from the eye or loop only when brought into proper relative position with the same, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

2'. The combination, with one of the heads of a link-button, of an elongated eye or loop and a hooked link having at or near its extremity a swelling or enlargement the width of which is greater than the width of said elongated eye or loop, but not greater than the length thereof, and the thickness of which is less than the width of said eye or loop, sub stantially as herein described.

T. V. F. SMITTEN.

Vitnesses:

FREDK. HAYNns, EMIL SOH'WARTZ. 

